BOGOF deals to be a thing of the past?

Buy-one-get-one-free deals could soon be a thing of the past, after research showed that customers where being 'seduced' into spending an extra grand every year for no good reason. A lot of the time, these deals result in needless waste too, but should they be stopped?

Well, the Money Advice Service (MAS) found that 76% of people regularly spend more than they mean to thanks to these offers in supermarkets. Now, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) are sniffing around it, and could take action.

A spokesman for the CMA said: "We have been undertaking further analysis of the potentially misleading practices identified in our report and establishing our priorities for further action."

Research showed that consumers are spending £11.14 more than they intended to, on average. With the average person going to the supermarket over two times per week, it was worked-out that this could see someone spending around £1,274 a year, when they didn't need to. In addition to that, the survey asked over 2,000 consumers to pick the best value products among a load of typical supermarket deals. One-in-fifty people identified the one that was best value.

All this considered, you can see why we've got an issue.

John Penberthy-Smith, customer director for the MAS, said: "The problem is that quite often we see a special offer at the supermarket and we don't want to miss out - so we throw it into our trolley without really thinking about whether it is a good deal or whether we actually need it."

"Often deals can be difficult to understand and compare with other prices. Then there's waste - even if the offers are cheaper, bigger packets or 50% extra are not always good value for money if we end up chucking most of it away. The best thing to do if you want to save cash is to write a shopping list and try to stick to it. You can also try shopping when you've just eaten and you're not tired."

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2 comments

Mike

Ain't no cure for stupid - but the regulators will still try and fashion one.